Last year I participated in an amazing fund-raising event called “Gourmet Soup Kitchen.” It was for the homeless shelter in Fargo, and was organized by Linda Coates and other wonderful people of this area. I was one of the chefs who donated 5 gallons of soup, and I made the “Nuro-men” which is Taiwanese national beef noodle soup. My soup was the first to run out (partly because I did not make the full 5 gallons..) and a lot of people asked for a recipe. It is really easy to make but you do need a specific spice packet that’s shown in the picture. If you can’t find it, you may substitute it with some star anise, clove, ginger and cinnamon.

Ingredients:

1 pack (about 1.5 lb), Beef boneless short-rib

0.5 lb, Flank steak (This is for more flavorful and less oily soup. You can replace it with more short-rib meat.)

4 garlic cloves

1-2 TB Canola oil

1 rock sugar clumps, about 1 inch diameter (or a few small pieces of rock sugar)

2 TB rice wine (Mi-Chiu is good. You can also use sake or dry sherry. Do NOT use Mirin, which is the sweetened rice wine!)